I upgraded Ubuntu to 12.04 from 11.10. The printer works, but the scanner doesn't now. In 11.10 I had to install a special driver from Brother. The printer's model is Brother MFC-290C. The computer is a Toshiba Satellite. How can I get the scanner working?

Update:

I have a 64-bit installation on the Toshiba Satellite. Thank you for your instructions, Chad--24216. I followed each step: 1 through 5. I also updated the Brother Linux scanner S-KEY tool.

Lorenzo, make sure that you have "sane-utils" installed on your system (sudo apt-get install sane-utils). Also, I did not install the scan-key-tool on my box. I do not recommend installing this s-key tool. Although I cannot say if this key-tool is what's causing the problem. If I was you, I would back up everything in my HOME folder, do a fresh install of 12.04 and then follow my instructions. and don't install the s-key tool.
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Chad--24216Jun 19 '12 at 18:02

had to add rule in /lib/udev/rules.d/40-libsane.rules : # Brother scanners ATTRS{idVendor}=="04f9", ATTRS{idProduct}=="01fd", MODE="0660", GROUP="scanner", ENV{libsane_matched}="yes" and reboot to make it work without root rights
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Philippe GachoudJun 15 '14 at 14:40

2) go to this website and download the "brscan3 DEB" driver to your Desktop. Pick the 32-bit version if you installed 32-bit Ubuntu. Pick the 64-bit version if you installed 64-bit Ubuntu: Brother Brscan3 driver

3) open Terminal and change to the Desktop directory (where your download is)

cd ~/Desktop

4) install the driver

sudo dpkg -i <name_of_file_that_you_downloaded.deb>

-when installed, the driver should show up in Synaptic like so: brscan3

My solution to fix Brother MFC5440CN, scanner only working using sudo xsane:

I had already created an additional User account but that did not sort the problem. Here's my fix. (Ubuntu 12.04, 32 bit). Follow the advice regarding the insertion of the script as instructed by Chad (& others). The editor opens a copy of the file. Close this and work on your original. Copy and paste this in at the location specified.

Do not alter anything else. Save the file. The insertion of the carriage return sorted my problem. I hope it works for you. I nearly tore my hair out trying to sort this so I know how frustrating it can be. Good Luck.